White House: ‘Grave Concern’ On Delayed Nominees

US President Barack Obama walks out of the Oval Office as he leaves the White House in Washington on February 15, 2013. Obama travels to Chicago to give a speech on the economy. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)File photo of President Barack Obama outside of the White House. (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new White House chief of staff says there’s “a grave concern” about delays in assembling President Barack Obama’s second-term national security team.

Senate Republicans have stalled the nominations of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary and John Brennan to be CIA director.

GOP lawmakers want more answers about the White House’s handling of the Sept. 11 attack on a diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya — but Hagel had no role in that crisis.

Obama aide Denis McDonough says Hagel, a Vietnam combat veteran and a former Republican senator, is well-qualified to lead the Pentagon. McDonough says Hagel “has one thing in mind: ‘How do we protect the country?'”

As for Brennan, Republicans are demanding more details about Benghazi and about drone strikes against suspected terrorists.